Mr. Meadows looked at her darkly, then put his hand in his waistcoat-pocket, and produced some silver.
"Where is Susan?" he inquired.
"She is out," was the curt reply.
"When will she be in?"
"I do not know," Esther answered. "Never perhaps. She has gone after a fresh place, and that is what I intend to do before long."
"And that is just what you won't do, my fine young woman," he declared, "for you cannot leave without a month's notice."
"Well, we will see," she replied. "I have not to give notice to you anyhow. I am not your servant."
"You are Mr. Swanland's, which is about the same thing," was the answer. "You chose to stay on after he took possession here for your own pleasure, and you will stay on now for mine, or else we will go before the nearest magistrate and know what he says on the subject."
But he spoke to space, for Esther, too indignant to listen further, had already left the kitchen, and he was compelled himself to go out into the works and send a lad for the viands his soul desired.